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Completed TRL 6 (started at 5, targeting 6)
Under the Rad-hard Power Controller Development Tipping Point (RPCD-TP) project, Apogee Semiconductor, Inc. (AS) will partner with NASA Glenn Research Center, and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop a flexible next generation radiation-hardened switching power controller capable of driving various power topologies such as 1) a single buck-boost with 4 primary side FETs; 2) two separate buck converters regulating separate rails; 3) two interleaved buck converters connected to the same output and 4) a flyback converter. The controller utilizes a configurable digital and analog architecture, resilient to single event effect, that can be configured to meet the power conversion needs of various NASA programs.
The targeted radiation resilience for this controller is 300krad(Si) total ionizing dose (TID) and an linear energy transfer (LET) for single event latch-up (SEL) and single event upset (SEU) of 75MeV×mg/cm2. In addition, the controller has integrated low side gate drivers for ease of integration and lower board area consumption. The digital architecture enables nonlinear control, essential for modularity and converting from 2 kV for 120 volts for habitat and in-situ resource utilization.
This radiation hardened controller will enable the realization of radiation-hardened power conversion at voltages that are currently unachievable in high-radiation environments with single devices (above ~300V). This will improve the conversion efficiency of various future NASA programs, particularly with high voltage power supplies above 200 Watts.
In addition, the controller can be configured to enable phase shifted topologies that improves efficiencies of power conversion systems.
The controller is enabled by Apogee Semiconductor’s TalRad technology that allows for high performance digital and analog integrated circuit development with high radiation tolerance.
Apogee Semiconductor is partnering with NASA GRC and JPL to develop a flexible next generation radiation hardened switching power controller capable of driving various power topologies. This controller can be used with either silicon or GaN FET drivers to enable near-term and future missions. To improve power density and reduce mass, the controller will be capable of greater than 2MHz operation. The flexibility of the controller will allow for maximum utilization across multiple platform including energy generation, storage and distribution for lunar payloads and satellites.
The ability to drive GaN FETs at higher frequencies can reduce board area by an order of magnitude and increase power conversion by more than 10%, thereby increasing solar panel utilization for critical satellite systems.
The configurable architecture allows for quick turn and cost effective modifications of the PWM controller that can save over $10 Million dollars per device spin every time a new topology on control scheme is required by NASA.
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